Double At Sea Days - January 29 - 30

The ship is sailing along the coast of Central America, up to Cabo San Lucas.  This will take three days, one more day at sea tomorrow before we touch land again.  After leaving Costa Rica, the ship stayed about 25 miles off the coast so we could see land on the starboard side. 

There is an area of land between Guatemala and Mexico that has no mountains, creating a valley between the Caribbean and the Pacific Ocean.  As a result, the prevailing winds cross through this area and are quite strong and in the Gulf of Tehuantepec the waves are close to 12 feet high because of the gale force winds.  The ship sailed through this area last night.  Wow!  Definitely a rock-and-roll night. 

Now the ship has sailed all day in calm seas and sunny weather about 25 miles off the coast of Mexico.  This area of the ocean has a geological feature known as the Middle America Trench, where depths reach 6300 meters (20,650 feet)!  The color of the water is dark blue and when churned up it looks sea green.

Sunday we attended the Traditional Maritime Service. Very joyful as we sang Amazing Grace with some great voices singing loudly.

Last night we heard some good jazz and there have been movies during the day – ‘The King’s Speech” and “Contagion.”  And of course, more lectures. 

Today, Jim Rowe, a naturalist, told us all about whales and dolphin found along this coast and near Hawaii.  In Cabo San Lucas, there will be humpback whales, the California grey whale, pilot whales and lots of bottlenose dolphins.  Did you know humpback whales can live up to 150 years?  We are looking forward to seeing whales; our luck in the past hasn’t been very good for this type of activity.

Another lecture was a virtual tour of the Queen Elizabeth bridge by two of the 3^rd Officers.  Some interesting facts:

The bridge is manned 24 hours a day in 4 hour shifts by a crew that includes 2 officers and a quartermaster (the person who knows how to manually drive the boat).
There are 19 engineers, electrical and electronics officers manning the engine room.
There are allegedly no maximum wind forces or wave heights in which this ship couldn’t successfully steam, but of course, with passengers onboard, the captain and the navigator work hard to avoid the roughest seas.
The ship has four huge12 cylinder and two huge 8 cylinder diesel engines.
The ship can stop in 1850 meters, which takes about 6.5 minutes.
At full speed, 24.3 knots (28 mph) Queen Elizabeth burns about 2600 US gallons of fuel per hour.  This is about.one gallon every 58 feet.
Someone asked how the ship will navigate through the areas with pirates.  The answer: At top speed on a course recommended by the military in the area and there will probably be armed guards onboard and warships nearby.  Something to look forward to??!!
                                           
Today’s Nautical Terms:
Waves:  Caused by the wind with the size determined wind speed, the time the wind has been blowing and the distance the wave travels.  Water does not move with the waves, it just changes shape as a wave passes.
Wardroom:  Originally a place where officers kept their spare wearing apparel; now it is where officers take their meals, relax and socialize.

Tonight is formal and we have been invited to dine with the Chief Purser at 8:30 pm.  How did they know to ask us to join the numbers guy?  We will miss the show tonight – a celebration of Neil Diamond songs……okay by us. ;-)

(Sorry no pix today....) 

At Sea & Puntarenas, Costa Rica January 27-28



Sailing the Pacific

The Pacific Ocean is just as blue as the Caribbean Sea with the sun glistening on it as we sail from Panama to Costa Rica.  Our morning routine of exercise sometimes includes walking on the deck.  Today, there is a sea gull huddled in a corner on the promenade deck.  We tell a crew member who captures it in a box.  The story is it will be set free at the next port…..

The ship creates beautiful waves that sea birds (we are told albatrosses) fly along and through gathering up the fish disturbed by the ship.  Dolphins also are seen swimming along side.  Our biggest decision of the day is what to wear tonight – formal.  Steve thinks we may have to have formal evenings when we get back home because after this cruise we will be really good at dressing up.

The daily lecture series includes an interesting talk about how Central America was formed, geologically speaking, millions of years ago and the number of active volcanoes.  There are over 550 active volcanoes in the world with a great number of them in Central America.  The climate of this region also creates a great diversity of plant and animal life.  In Costa Rica alone there are over 400 different varieties of orchids.

The second lecture is all about The Kiel Canal, which is claimed to be the world’s busiest canal and Europe’s largest shipping canal.  The lecture is so interesting we want to take our next cruise through this canal.  It is always a reminder during these lectures that we are on a British ship and everything told is from that perspective.  Lots of European history we know little about along with a lot of geographical features we are unfamiliar with so it makes for great learning opportunities.

Another lecture series we missed is by Col. Stephen Bauer who wrote a book “At Ease in the White House: Social Life as Seen by a Presidential Military Aid.”  We caught the tail-end of his lecture and he told about how that couple (can’t remember their names) were able to crash the White House Dinner Event and how Lynda Bird Johnson met, rather forcibly, her husband.

Our evening includes a reception by the Captain for World Club Members.  These are nice events with the opportunity to meet other travelers and hear the Captain speak.  A nice Canadian couple sits down with us and we find they are just cruising to New Zealand to visit their daughter and then fly back to Toronto.  The Captain announces tonight the four top cruise passengers by the number of days they have cruised on Cunard ships.  The first three are in the 2100’s and a lady who has cruised the most days is the winner with 2,441!  At less than 30 days on the Cunard ships, we have much to aspire to.



Beach view of QE

Black Sand Beach & Mountains

The clock was turned back an hour last night (we are now in Central Time), making for a nice additional hour of sleep!  The ship docks this morning in Puntarenas, Costa Rica.  This is a very small port that is primarily for people interested in taking tours into the country to explore and sample the diverse culture, climate and adventures.  We have already sampled greater Costa Rica so our tour is only of the town of Puntarenas.  This is mainly one street and the main attractions are the beach and the market that is set-up on Saturdays and when cruise ships come to town.

Child resting at Market



Store in Puntarenas



Colorful shawls

The market is mostly comprised of tarp covered stalls with trinkets, hats, dresses, wood carvings, cigars, postcards, etc. for sale.  It is fun to walk through, see the wares and people-watch.  Everything is very colorful and so inexpensive.  For us, it is enough to walk through and then back to the ship.  The temperature is 86 and the sun is hot.  With everyone on tours or walking the market, the ship is nice and quiet.  We tag-team doing a load of laundry while people are away on shore.

Tonight is the play ‘Twelfth Night”, the comedic one-hour version, and the movie is “Midnight in Paris.”  Dress tonight is elegant casual, aka Florida formal but with socks for men!

Nautical Term of the Day – Beaufort scale: an empirical measure for describing wind intensity based mainly on observed sea conditions.

Cruise Musings:  We write down questions every day that we want to know the answers to.  However, with the internet being so expensive and slow, we won’t be able to find out the answers unless we pose them to people reading this blog.  For example, who found the solution for yellow fever and malaria that permitted building of the Panama Canal?  When did Prussia become Germany?  Please post your answers as blog comments, or email the answers to these and all future posted questions.

Tonight we depart Costa Rica and will be - At Sea - for three days until Cabo San Lucas.  This translates into many lectures, concerts and formal evenings since these all tend to be at-sea experiences.

Panama Canal Transit - January 26



Lynn - Semi formal

Steve -Semi-formal

Last night was all about celebrating the birthday of Robert Burns the poet.  Dinner included a taste of haggis, tatties and neeps.  The entertainer, Stuart Gillies, sang Scottish songs and afterwards in an official ceremony, addressed the haggis and toasted the lads and lassies in memory of the great poet.  And Steve only wore a plaid bow tie, not his kilt.

The ship sailed quickly through the night and arrived on schedule today 6:00 am at the Panama Canal.  Every ship presents paperwork at a specific time, is boarded by Panama Canal pilots (we have three on board) and then is allowed through the first of the canal locks.  Our slot is 7:45 am and we enter the Gatun Locks precisely on schedule. 

Entering the Panama Canal

Gatun Locks

There have been several lectures about the history of the Canal and explaining what we will expect to see as we transit through.  While the isthmus is only 51 miles across, it will take 8-9 hours to go from the Atlantic to Pacific.  The ship opens up several decks reserved normally for only crew to allow more people to be at the front of the ship as it transits, to take pictures.  A Panama Canal employee is onboard narrating the process while the ship makes it way through the canal.

As I write this entry, the ship has completed the transit through the Pedro Miguel Locks.  We can finally say we have cruised further than ever before heading west.  Along the way we see the areas where they are widening the Canal.  The maximum sustainable capacity of the Canal is expected to be reached in 2015 and would have been 2012 if the global recession had not occurred.  The expansion of the Canal to include a third lane will be completed in 2014.  Even after the expansion, there will be ships too large to use the new expanded channel. This is an amazing engineering feat.

Coral Princess Passing

Mostly we see tanker ships of all kinds.  Mid-day we pass the Coral Princess cruise ship going towards the Atlantic.  A very nice looking four mast sailing ship by Windstar and a rarity – a dead ship, an old victory ship, that is not under power but being tugged by two ocean tugs that are taking it a shipyard somewhere to be scrapped for the metal.  There is also a prison located near the Gaillard Cut that is actually where General Noriega is residing these days. 



Miraflores locks

Through the cut

The jungle is dense along the sides of the canal except where the mountains were cut to make the canal.  There are alligators and crocodiles along the banks and frigate birds flying overhead.  The railroad that was constructed in 1855 still carries trains loaded with containers from the ships that can’t make it through the canal.

Panama City

In the distance Panama City can be seen.  It is the oldest city in the Americas on the Pacific Ocean side (founded 1519).  Next the ship will enter the Miraflores Locks and will then be entering the Pacific Ocean.  This is a very relaxing and interesting day.  We now more clearly understand what King Tut must have been thinking and doing, cruising down the Nile!

Cruise oddities:  Many of you may know about the webcam on the Cunard website.  Some people are ‘smart’ enough to tell their friends and relatives to watch the webcam today while the cruise ship goes through the Panama Canal -- since only for the day passengers have access to the deck where the camera is located.  All day long people are waving, holding up signs and talking to their family on their cell phones.  This same webcam can be seen on our stateroom television so we get to watch them too.  We all have a bit of clown in us!

Cartagena, Colombia January 25

Cartagena - New City

Waking up this morning, we are docking and had a beautiful view of Bocagrande – the New City.  This area started being built up only about 80 years ago while the old walled part of the city has been in existed since the 16^th century.  The history is rich with stories of treasures, pirates, slaves, the Spanish, the inquisition and the various battles for ownership of this Caribbean port.  A very diverse ethnic background exists in this city of just over one million people.

Cartagena Container Port

Our ship is docked in the main port area where all the huge container ships arrive and unload and load their cargo.  This is a fascinating operation to watch.

Shopping Area

Old City Plaza

Fort San Felipe

Old City Street

 A tour today showed us some of the interesting sights in Cartagena.  The San Felipe Fortress, one of the largest and most fortified in the Americas, provides you a good understanding of how the Spanish defended this port for years.  There is also a good view from the top of the fort of the old walled city.  On our way, we make a stop at an old shopping venue.  Walking the streets of the old city, you appreciate the quaint buildings.  The architecture within the walls is required to stay true to the Spanish building style.  The tour takes us to a museum/building where the Spanish Inquisition was conducted (lots of torture devices), close by is the cathedral just off an open plaza area.  There is also a short stop at a convent and then on to an emerald shop in the new city area.  The drive takes us along the beach area where many people are enjoying the sun and water.  The bus passes by several hotels and then returns to the ship.

Other observations of Cartagena:  Heavy rains have caused landslides at the La Popa Monastery so no tours are going there.  La Popa is the highest hill in Cartagena.  The movie "Romancing the Stone" was filmed in Cartagena, much of it at San Felipe Fortress.  Every stop has people coming up to you trying to sell silver, hats, tablecloths, scarves, necklaces and leather bags.  Bartering is the norm.  Poverty is everywhere, even though they attempt to hide it.  Police are everywhere so you are meant to feel safe.  Colorfully dressed ladies walk around with fruit baskets on their head – “fruit ladies” – and charge $1 to have your picture taken with them.  There is also Colombian coffee for sale by none other than Juan Valdez, or so he says!

It is now 4 PM and the Queen Elizabeth is leaving Cartagena and heading to the Panama Canal.  The transit through the Panama Canal will be all day tomorrow.

Steve at Fort San Felipe

Weather – Sunny and 86 degrees.  We are hoping for calmer seas than last night!

Sailing the Caribbean Sea - January 24



Caribbean Sea

The weather this morning is partly cloudy and a brief downpour lets you know you are in the Caribbean.  Warm water, 80 degrees and air temperatures in the 80’s make for some nice humidity.  We have hit the trade winds and the sea’s waves are at 8 feet all day.  A nice rocking motion makes for good sleeping tonight!

On board there are various lecture series called Insights.  Today there are three lectures in a row.  All were very interesting.  



1)     Sir Alan Collins, a British diplomat, spoke about the history and abolition of the slave trade from a British perspective.  There is a movie being released in February called “Amazing Grace” about William Wilberforce and his fight to abolish slavery.  He reminds us that we are sailing in the same waters that many slave ships sailed to provide labor to the expansion of trade by the early colonizers – Spanish, British, Dutch and French in this region.

2)     Richard Cowley returned with a lecture on why Cartagena (founded in 1533)was important to the Spanish and how they fought to keep it

3)     John Laverick finished his lecture on the expansion of the Panama Canal, the why, how they are doing it, what we will see and how much it all will cost.

A classical concert in the afternoon featured music creature names in their titles.  For example, Ibert’s The Little White Donkey (!) and Busser’s The Squirrel.  Actually, quite entertaining music.

Tonight was another formal evening.  Dinner included grouper as a menu choice, which was prepared perfectly.  Back in our room, the seas are getting a bit rougher, the wind speed is 44.3 knots and we are still 170 miles from Cartagena, Colombia.  The ship will dock in the morning  at 7:30 am and we will be taking our tour of the city.

Nautical Term of the Day:  Son of a gun.  A description given to a male baby born onboard a British Navy ship when wives were allowed to live onboard ship when in the harbor.  The only place women could give birth was in the space between the guns on the gun deck.  Thus, the name of a male baby – son of a gun.

Pirate in Grand Cayman

Grand Cayman Ceremony

Queen Elizabeth & Pirate Ship in Grand Cayman

Formal Steve

Formal Lynn

Tiago serving us treats every night!

At Sea & Grand Cayman January 22-23

Sunday was a beautiful sea day.  We attended the Traditional Maritime Service in the morning.  Always some good hymns that everyone knows – “What a friend we have in Jesus” – and ending with the Mariner’s Hymn.

An interesting lecture on the history of the Panama Canal, which opened August 15, 1914, was given by John Laverick.  A good refresher since it has been 8 years since we’ve been through the Canal.  It is an amazing structure and we will get a chance to see the area where they are expanding it to be able to accommodate the larger container and cruise ships.  Other facts:  Gatun Lake, part of the Canal, is the largest man-made lake in the world; the Chagres River, which provides all the water used to operate the canal (2.1 million gallons are required to operate just one of the several locks) only flowed to the Atlantic Ocean and now flows to both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans; the Pan American Highway Bridge crosses over Gatun Lake.  A voyage from New York to San Francisco around South America is over 13,000 miles and through the Panama Canal it is approximately 5,400 miles.

Every day we receive a Daily Programme which outlines the day’s activities.  There is also a nautical term of the day.  They start off easy and seem to be getting more difficult – like starboard, aft, fathom and ‘cut and run.’  In the program you can also learn something about the next port.  Grand Cayman is a place where you can see turtles, seven mile beach, stingrays and of course shopping.  No taxes and duty free.  There is a seminar on how to buy gems and where to buy them.  Definitely there are a few places to check-out.

Tonight is the Captain’s Reception and the Cunard Ball – dress is Formal.  The evening is fun because you get to see all of the beautiful gowns and the men looking quite handsome in their tuxes.  We meet a couple at the Captain’s Reception where we also learn about the passenger mix from the Captain.  The passengers on the ship represent 35 different countries and the crew is from 55 different countries.  The country with the most passengers is the U.K. around 750 followed by the USA with 560.  And there is only one passenger from Ecuador.

The evening’s show was modern dance and orchestra accompaniment to Jazz, Blues and Rock ‘n Roll.  Steve and I had to laugh because every show so far we are sitting by people who like to talk and some that like to hum or sing along – no matter where we sit in the theatre.  Strangely, it has been some of the same people even though we go all day without seeing them and we don’t know them.  As for the people we boarded with in New York City, we didn’t see until yesterday at breakfast.  Cruising oddity.

Today the ship docked early.  We took the tender to the Georgetown, Grand Cayman pier to do some shopping.  The temperature is perfect for us – 79 degrees.  The shopping is the usual: Diamonds International, Del Sol and many other stores.  We see people gathered and hear a band.  It is the National Heroes Day in Grand Cayman and there is a formal ceremony occurring.  We watch for a bit and listen to the band playing and see men and women in uniform (military?) marching.  Very British looking since Grand Cayman is a British colony.

Back on ship, a little pool time and now an update of the blog.  We sail away from Grand Cayman around 5 pm and head tomorrow toward Cartagena, Colombia, which we reach after a full day at sea (and yet another formal dinner!).  We will tour the Old Town of Cartagena that morning.  This will be our first time to Colombia; very exciting!

January 20 -21 Just Pix

Waiting for People to relax

Steve Sail Away

Oasis of the Sea

Classical Music

At Sea & Port Everglades January 20-21

All I can say is that the internet is miserably slow, there are a lot of people wanting to use it and then my learning curve on what is the best way to do the blog without using up all my internet time in one session is going to prevent me from making daily updates to this blog.….just wanting to manage expectations.  We aren’t sure about this satellite internet….maybe they are trying to connect with Sputnik?!  We haven’t had connectivity since noon today.

Yesterday, continued sailing along the coastline of the USA to Florida on very calm seas.  The ship stays far enough away from land to let you believe you are far out at sea.  The body of water alongside the coast of the Carolina’s is called the Sargasso Sea.  There is sea grass floating on top of the water.  Also, the Gulf Stream current meets the Atlantic Ocean while heading south and the Gulf Stream is heading north, noticeably slowing down the ship.

Today the ship pulled into Port Everglades (by Ft. Lauderdale, FL) early morning along with at least 7 Cruise ships and several container ships.  The announcement this morning mentions that this is a major fueling stop….must be why so many ships are here for the day.

This is not a new port to us so we are just staying on board, enjoying the ship with fewer people.  And you can watch the crew doing maintenance everywhere.  A server at lunch tells us that the Oasis of the Seas (docked next to us) is the largest cruise ship at sea with 6,000 passengers.  The Queen Elizabeth is just over 2,000 passengers.    

We have met passengers on this ship from all over and traveling to all over the world.  There are people who actually boarded in Hamburg and are disembarking in Florida.  There are others who are getting off in San Francisco; some will be on the Queen Elizabeth until Sydney and then change to the Queen Mary 2 to travel to Japan and others who will get on in Florida, San Francisco and Sydney.  For some people this is their second or more World Cruise. What way to travel without flying!

There are plenty of activities onboard the ship to keep you busy all day if you choose: classes and lectures, music and games, entertainment and casino, exercise or sleep.  With the weather warming up since leaving NYC, walking the promenade deck is an option or even sleeping in a deck chair.  Activities for us include:  exercising in the gym, classical music concert, evening shows and a lecture on Captain Morgan and the Battle for the Caribbean (avast!).  The flutist on board is absolutely outstanding - Gillian Poznansky – she’s accompanied by Mark Tanner on piano.  The lecturer, Richard Cowley, made Captain Morgan’s story quite interesting with how he won over the Caribbean from the Spaniards.  Both Gillian Poznansky and Richard Cowley are on the ship until San Francisco.  Tonight, Tian Jiang (world renowned pianist) will be playing in the Royal Court Theatre.

Some of you may be curious about our unpacking.  Everything fit into our room’s closets and/or under our bed in our suitcases – a pleasant surprise.  There has been only one semi-formal evening.  Tomorrow the ship will be at sea and there will be the Cunard Ball – our first formal attire evening.

A few musings—Not many disabled wandering around, only a few people that we have seen in wheelchairs.  Norovirus advisory letter in our room, who has it?  The crew? Why are they serving the food, shouldn’t we be handing it to them?  Someone tells us that they weigh themselves in every port so they know whether or not they need to curtail their food and drink when the ship is at sea.  Sounds like a good idea!  Guess this explains why the gym is always crowded on cruise ships.

There have been some changes to our future excursions – no Napa Valley tour in San Francisco (don’t know why exactly) and the evening at the Opera in Sydney was changed to the second night because of a Cunard World Passenger Gala/Ball at the Sydney TownHall.  We are told by some friends who have done the world cruises before that the dinner in Sydney is not to be missed.  Something exciting ahead…….

The ship will sail away today around 5 pm and head to sea for one day.  Then we arrive in Georgetown, Grand Cayman.  See you there!

Day 1 Pictures



Queen Elizabeth NYC

Upper Pool Deck



Safety Drill

At Dinner Day 1

On Board and At Sea Day 1

Our trip to New York and then on to the ship went very smooth.  Thank you Fred & Geri for taking us to the Tampa Airport.  We arrived, checked into the Waldorf Astoria and then met Lesley & Mike at the Bull & Bear before heading to Ciano’s for a delicious dinner.  Next morning, a walk to the Discovery Museum to see the Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibit.  This exhibit is definitely worth a visit.  Afterwards, walked through Times Square, along Fifth Avenue and then to hotel to board the shuttle bus to Pier 90 at 50^th & 10^th where the Queen Elizabeth was waiting.

Once onboard, the first day is busy.  A safety drill, luggage arrives and unpacking starts and finally a lovely dinner.

Now, Day 1, we are at sea; cruising along the East Coast of the USA.  As I write this, we are sailing just across from North Carolina, ships speed 14.5 knots, temperature outside is 45 and it’s sunny.  We’ve enjoyed a breakfast, lunch and a workout in the gym already.  We are still familiarizing ourselves with the ships layout.  Queen Elizabeth is a smaller ship than the Queen Mary 2 and yet we are still getting our sea bearings – aft or starboard – where is the theatre, where are the shops, where is the restaurant and where is our room?  We are in state room 8126, on the port side, and have a verandah.  Right now, we are heading south so we awake to the sunrise.

Later today we are going to a classical concert and relaxing before a semi-formal dinner.  We’ve met some interesting people.  Some are just doing the New York to San Francisco segment of the cruise and some are doing the world.  Several are on their second or more world cruise.  HHMMMM, sounds like this could become addictive!

P.S. The internet is VERY slow --am having a problem loading pictures.  I will load some later......

Almost on Board!

Last night we had a delicious dinner at Pattigeorges and knew immediately why we enjoy cruising.....This was the view from our table!  And now you know why we love Longboat Key!

Tomorrow we fly to New York to have dinner at Ciano with Lesley and Mike.  Wednesday we board the Queen Elizabeth.  Here is a website that shows the ship's location in the World along with the itinerary.

http://www.cunard.com/Ships/Queen-Elizabeth/Bridge-Web-Cam/

Our trip blogging starts soon~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bags on their way!

Our bags just left the house and are on their way to the Queen Elizabeth!  The FedEX driver said he has in the past picked up luggage from a couple in Venice who shipped 8 bags.  Only 4 bags are leaving here.  We depart next Tuesday!

Bags waiting for FedEX